Determinants of the outcomes of services outsourcing: an empirical study of transport services.

The purpose of our study is to examine whether the design and management of the interfaces and interaction processes between customer and provider in services outsourcing are determinants of the results achieved by the outsourcing company. Following the conceptual framework initiated in the study by Wynstra et al. [11], this study focuses on transport services and hypothesized relationships are tested using the Partial Least Squares (PLS) statistical technique. The primary data used was obtained from a survey in three different countries (Germany, Japan and Spain), and from manufacturing companies in the electronics, automotive and machinery sectors. Among other things, the results show that both the structural dimensions of interaction (the organization's resources that it must commit) and the process dimensions of interaction (that consider the dynamic nature of the relationships), are important for obtaining adequate performance from transport services outsourcing.Spanish National Program of Industrial Design and Production DPI 2009 11148PAIDI Excellence Projects P08-SEJ0384

Antecedents of the adoption of Social Media Marketing by micro and small enterprises

The adoption of Social Media Marketing (SMM) is increasingly present in the daily life of companies. However, little is known about this phenomenon in the context of micro and small businesses (MSEs). The research aimed to analyze the SMM adoption process by MSEs, based on a study with 338 entrepreneurs linked to the Brazilian Micro and Small Business Support System (Sebrae), using Structural Equation Modeling. It was found that technical knowledge, cost reduction, and pressure from customers and competitors generate benefits perceived by entrepreneurs concerning the use of the tool, leading to a higher level of use. The work contributes to the step in which it brings evidence that helps to understand the determinants of adopting SMM in the context of MSEs.

Capital structure of portuguese hotel firms: a structural equation modelling approach

This paper addresses capital structure determinants for Portuguese hotel firms between 2006 and 2014. Secondary data from 356 hotel units was analysed using the partial least squares (PLS) statistical technique, a variance-based structural equation modelling (SEM). The results show that the explanatory variables proposed as capital structure determinants have an impact on the financing and debt decisions made by the firms in the sample. Of these, tangibility has the greater explanatory power. Overall, the results support the notion that trade-off theory and pecking-order theory are important in explaining the capital structure of the Portuguese hotel industry, particularly as regards the agency conflicts triggered by growth opportunities and the preference firms have for internal funding. The results also point to the importance of collateral in accessing credit and the lesser impact of asymmetric information pertaining to tangible asset value and firm size. The results suggest small firms find it difficult to contract loans, which can somewhat limit their growth and performance.info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersio

Contribución del comercio electrónico al desempeño de las PyMEs industriales: un modelo estructural

El rol que juegan las Tecnologías de la Información y comunicación (TIC) para lograr un mejor desempeño organizacional aún requiere de un análisis más profundo entre las pequeñas y medianas empresas (PyMEs) de los países en desarrollo. Este estudio pretende ampliar la literatura empírica sobre la relación entre TIC, comercio electrónico y desempeño de las PyMEs en países en desarrollo. Para alcanzar este objetivo, utilizamos una muestra de 87 empresas manufactureras de la ciudad de Bahia Blanca, Argentina correspondiente al año 2015. Mediante la estimación de un Modelo de ecuación estructura, se obtiene que la adopción del comercio electrónico posee una influencia positiva y significativa en las ventas de las PyMEs la cual es potenciada por el nivel de uso de las TIC. Otros factores organizacionales tales como el tamaño de la empresa y los programas públicos explican el desempeño, pero no son predictores significativos de la adopción del comercio electrónico.The role Information and Communication Technologies (ICT) play in achieving a better organizational performance still needs further analysis among small and medium sized enterprises (SME) from developing countries. This study aims to extend the empirical literature on the relationship between ICT, electronic commerce and SME performance in developing countries. To achieve this goal, we employ a sample of 87 manufacturing firms from the city of Bahía Blanca, Argentina in the year 2015. By estimating a structural equation model, we obtain that electronic commerce adoption has a positive and significant influence on SME sales which is reinforced by the level of ICT use. Other organizational factors such as firm size and public programs explain performance, but are not significant predictors of the electronic commerce adoption.Fil: Alderete, Maria Veronica. Universidad Nacional del Sur. Departamento de Economía; Argentina. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas. Centro Científico Tecnológico Conicet - Bahía Blanca. Instituto de Investigaciones Económicas y Sociales del Sur. Universidad Nacional del Sur. Departamento de Economía. Instituto de Investigaciones Económicas y Sociales del Sur; Argentin

Testing for linear and quadratic effects between price adaptation and export performance: The impact of values and perceptions

Managerial perceptions are essential in explaining strategic decisions. It is, therefore, surprising that despite the number of studies that have examined the impact of managerial characteristics in exporting, little research has been reported in the export literature that investigates the importance of managers' perceptions on strategic decisions and resultant performance outcomes. To address this gap in the literature, the authors examine the key determinants of managers' psychic distance as well as its influence on international pricing decisions, and this in turn, on the export performance of SMEs. We also examine the quadratic effects of price adaptation on export performance. This is particularly relevant since price adaptation and export performance have been assumed in the literature to have a linear relationship. The results show that managers' perceptions have a significant impact on pricing decisions and resultant performance outcomes. Our findings also indicate that price adaptation has an inverted U-shaped relationship with export performance

Desarrollo regional y estructura de capital de las PYME

This article studies the influence of regional institutional environment, measured as regional development, on capital structure of small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs). Furthermore, the standard firm-factor determinants and the business sector of the firm are also incorporated. To this end, a sample of 6,560 Spanish firms for 2007 is analysed, where all regions of Spain and all sectors, except the financial sector, are considered. Spain provides a suitable and unexplored laboratory for the analysis of regional differences in the financial structure of SMEs, since, on the one hand, SMEs constitute the most relevant firms in this country, and on the other hand, Spain shows regional disparities at various levels. Moreover, the empirical analysis uses Partial Least Squares (PLS), a variance-based structural equation modelling (SEM). In this respect, PLS has several clear advantages to multiple linear regression (MLR). Thanks to this study, how each of these factors explains the variation in the capital structure could be shown. Moreover, the results show that although firm factors and the business sector explain a large proportion of the variance of capital structure of SMEs, it is important to take into account the regional institutional environment to better ascertain the level of debt of SMEs in a single country.Este artículo estudia la influencia del entorno institucional regional, medido a través del desarrollo regional, en la estructura de capital de las pequeñas y medianas empresas (PYME). Además, este estudio también considera los factores de empresa clásicos determinantes de las decisiones de financiación y el sector de actividad de la empresa. Para el análisis empírico, se toma una muestra de 6.560 PYME españolas donde todas las regiones de España y todos los sectores, excepto el financiero, son considerados. España ofrece un laboratorio adecuado e inexplorado para el análisis de las diferencias regionales en la estructura financiera de las PYME, ya que, por una parte, las PYME son las empresas más preponderantes en el mismo y por otro lado, España muestra diferencias regionales a varios niveles. Como metodología se utiliza un modelo de ecuaciones estructurales basado en la varianza (Partial Least Squares-PLS). A este respecto, PLS ofrece una serie de ventajas claras sobre el análisis de regresión lineal múltiple. Gracias a este estudio, se ha podido identificar cómo cada una de las variables analizadas explica la variación en la estructura de capital. Además, los resultados muestran que aunque los factores de empresa y el sector de actividad explican una gran proporción de la varianza de la estructura de capital de las PYME, es importante tener en cuenta el entorno institucional regional para determinar mejor el nivel de deuda de las PYME en un país determinado

Innovation attributes and managers' decisions about the adoption of innovations in organizations: A meta-analytical review

The adop­tion of in­no­va­tions has emerged as a dom­i­nant re­search topic in the man­age­ment of in­no­va­tion in or­ga­ni­za­tions, al­though in­ves­ti­ga­tions of­ten yield mixed re­sults. To help man­agers and re­searchers im­prove their ef­fec­tive­ness, the au­thors em­ployed a meta-analy­sis in­te­grated with struc­tural equa­tion mod­el­ing to an­a­lyze the as­so­ci­a­tions be­tween the at­trib­utes of in­no­va­tions, man­agers' be­hav­ioral pref­er­ences, and or­ga­ni­za­tions' in­no­va­tion adop­tion de­ci­sions in a me­di­ated-mod­er­ated frame­work. Our find­ings of­fer ev­i­dence that at­trib­utes of in­no­va­tions in­flu­ence man­agers' be­hav­ioral pref­er­ences and, con­se­quently, adop­tion de­ci­sions in or­ga­ni­za­tions. We also ob­serve the sig­nif­i­cance of the con­text in which the adop­tion de­ci­sion oc­curs as well as the re­search set­tings em­ployed by schol­ars. Fi­nally, we dis­cuss the the­o­ret­i­cal con­tri­bu­tion and prac­ti­cal im­pli­ca­tions of our meta-an­a­lyt­i­cal re­sults

Critical review of the e-loyalty literature: a purchase-centred framework

Over the last few years, the concept of online loyalty has been examined extensively in the literature, and it remains a topic of constant inquiry for both academics and marketing managers. The tremendous development of the Internet for both marketing and e-commerce settings, in conjunction with the growing desire of consumers to purchase online, has promoted two main outcomes: (a) increasing numbers of Business-to-Customer companies running businesses online and (b) the development of a variety of different e-loyalty research models. However, current research lacks a systematic review of the literature that provides a general conceptual framework on e-loyalty, which would help managers to understand their customers better, to take advantage of industry-related factors, and to improve their service quality. The present study is an attempt to critically synthesize results from multiple empirical studies on e-loyalty. Our findings illustrate that 62 instruments for measuring e-loyalty are currently in use, influenced predominantly by Zeithaml et al. (J Marketing. 1996;60(2):31-46) and Oliver (1997; Satisfaction: a behavioral perspective on the consumer. New York: McGraw Hill). Additionally, we propose a new general conceptual framework, which leads to antecedents dividing e-loyalty on the basis of the action of purchase into pre-purchase, during-purchase and after-purchase factors. To conclude, a number of managerial implementations are suggested in order to help marketing managers increase their customers’ e-loyalty by making crucial changes in each purchase stage

Does the Entry Mode of Foreign Banks Matter for Bank Efficiency? Evidence from the Czech Republic,Hungary, and Poland

This paper investigates the impact of specific modes of entry of foreign banks, i.e. greenfield investment versus merger and acquisition, on bank performance in three transition economies ñ the Czech Republic, Hungary, and Poland. We use stochastic frontier analysis to model and measure the cost efficiency of banks. We adopt a maximum likelihood approach to estimation in which the variance of the one-sided error term is modeled jointly with the cost frontier, thus enabling us to retrieve efficiency scores, as well as estimating the various determinants of X-inefficiency. We first find that foreign banks are generally more cost efficient than their domestic counterparts, a result that confirms those of the existing empirical literature. We then turn our focus to comparative performance of greenfield banks versus merger and acquisition banks (M & As), and of M & As versus domestic banks. The results show that on average, M & As are surpassed in terms of efficiency by greenfields banks, but no cost efficiency difference is apparent between M & As and domestic banks. However, we find a strong age effect with respect to M & As which suggests that the evolution of M & Así efficiency follows an inverse U-shape, that means M & As tend to get more inefficient following the acquisition, but approximately 4 years and a haft later, their efficiency starts to improve.http://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/64431/1/wp925.pd

Why are Prices Sticky? Evidence from Business Survey Data

This paper offers new insights on the price setting behaviour of German retail firms using a novel dataset that consists of a large panel of monthly business surveys from 1991-2006. The firm-level data allows matching changes in firms' prices to several other firm-characteristics. Moreover, information on price expectations allow analyzing the determinants of price updating. Using univariate and bivariate ordered probit specifications, empirical menu cost models are estimated relating the probability of price adjustment and price updating, respectively, to both time- and state- dependent variables. First, results suggest an important role for state-dependence; changes in the macroeconomic and institutional environment as well as firm-specific factors are significantly related to the timing of price adjustment. These findings imply that price setting models should endogenize the timing of price adjustment in order to generate realistic predictions concerning the transmission of monetary policy. Second, an analysis of price expectations yields similar results providing evidence in favour of state-dependent sticky plan models. Third, intermediate input cost changes are among the most important determinants of price adjustment suggesting that pricing models should explicitly incorporate price setting at different production stages. However, the results show that adjustment to input cost changes takes time indicating "additional stickiness" at the last stage of processing